Fires of Revenge
by Aberron
Summary: Konoha is dead, and now only the fires of revenge will bring it back.  Please take a look and add your opinion.  Will update at 10 reviews.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own it, wish I did, I also wish I had a million bucks, that might help too. Anyways, enjoy.

This is a prologue story that might become the next thing I work on after Uzumaki Two-face. I guess that is up to you guys. I've read a lot of interesting stories but this one is another of those original ideas I come up with. I hope that you guys at least take a look at it, I've been having it stewing in my head for months and a couple weeks ago the pieces all just came together. So now I guess I'm writing it.

"Kensuke, this place is messed up!" One young man called to another, both stepping past rubble and long-destroyed buildings. The walls weren't even identifiable any longer, the destruction upon this area so significant.

"Told you it was. This is old Konoha, that ninja village that got destroyed." He stepped casually on some old knick-knack as he came towards a more complete building. "I hear it's got quite good loot."

"Do you think Kumo will take us back if we find something?" Both men had long slashes through their forehead protectors, marking them as missing-nin. Kensuke was digging through the rubble, finding nothing of value.

"We would have to get inside the inner walls probably. Maybe their clan compounds will have something." Kensuke said, looking at the still mostly whole inner segments of the city. Skeletons lay everywhere, most having been cleaned of value.

"Maybe we shouldn't, man. That last village was all hush hush about this place. They said something about it being haunted." The second man was very superstitious, which was a large part of why he left his village.

"Feh." Kensuke shrugged. "All this stuff about the ghosts and hauntings is just crap to keep the looters away. Man, we are going to strike it rich." Turning around, he only saw a smear of blood on the ground. A very ninja-like smear. His partner was gone, and even his highly attuned senses barely heard anything. "Shimata! Hey! Where did you go?" Stepping over to the bloodstain, he prepared a jutsu just in case. "Come on man, don't screw with me!"

An oily voice came from his surroundings. "Who said anyone was screwing with you?"

Kensuke glared around. "Who are you, where is Shimata?"

The voice answered by stepping out of the shadows. It was a pale man, long dark hair and strange looking eyes. Shimata was impaled on some blade he held in his left hand, and in his right the hand had been replaced by snakes. Kensuke immediately put his mind into overdrive, there was not supposed to be any ninja here, they were all dead! Yet, clear as day there was an old Konoha forehead protector at the man's belt. "You should listen to more of those rumors. You never know, some of them might be true."

Kensuke kept his jutsu prepared, not quite knowing what would happen. "What are you, some kind of missing-ninja, using this place?"

The man just smiled, and Kensuke finally got a good look at his eyes. They looked like a snake's, yellowed and shaped differently. That was not anything he recognized, and it didn't feel like a genjutsu. "You don't know the story, do you? Well, for your sake, I'll give you a hint." The pale man walked forward, and from the darkness Kensuke could see that the man's lower body was literally skin and bone. Holes littered the man, and Kensuke could see the desiccated flesh through the missing pieces. One foot was ground down to the bone. "The ghosts of Konoha still prowl, boy. I've been killing tresspassers since you were born. You fortunately have come on a good day, so I am feeling rather forgiving." The man held out his sword towards Kensuke, and he took a stance to protect himself. Though he had no idea what would actually work against an honest-to-kami ghost.

The sword extended itself, going right through his left arm. It was just a knick, but he could feel some sort of poison spreading into him from the wound. "Feel my forgiveness. You have roughly enough time to get back to that village, state your regrets, who knows. You might even just be helpful and dig your own grave." The man laughed, a sound made even more disturbing by the sound of his tongue. "Take comfort that you died by the hand of Orochimaru. Perhaps your afterlife may have more meaning that way." Then the man laughed again, watching as Kensuke retreated. Kensuke, not knowing what else to do, simply fled. He never did make it to the village. Not like they would have an antidote anyways.

Laughing, the specter watched as the Kumo ninja ran for a nearby hill, his rising blood pressure and heart rate only making the poison spread more quickly. Leaving the body on the ground, the ghost of the Sannin turned and walked back towards the central ring of homes in Konoha. His home, or what once was his home, was ruined by two decades of decay. The third ninja war, followed by the rise of the fourth hokage, were not times of great profit for Konoha. The buildings had already shown signs of age before the attack that ended the village. Now, most hung off to the side or had fallen. It was not uncommon to hear groaning and shifting from even the most stable of buildings these days. Trees grew out of places that rubble didn't cover, making this place look like some long forgotten ruin. He laughed, thinking about this village being considered a ruin.

Fifteen years ago someone had conspired with the major powers, and only kami knew the whole story. Orochimaru and the other Sannin had been dealing with some problems in Ame, and had come home to a battlefield. They were two days late, and most of the major players had left or were dead. The fourth and third hokage were both dead, as were most of the Konoha shinobi. They were outclassed and outnumbered, not that Orochimaru liked to accept that. He had been killed by some old hag from Sand and her grandson, wielders of puppets. Too bad, that. Oh well, he had cheated death, and had helped most of the shinobi still alive to cheat death just a little longer.

Edo Tensei, the summoning of the underworld. He had used it in conjunction with Fugaku Uchiha. Orochimaru had always pitied and hated that man, but that was more due to their combined arrogance towards one another. Still, that day, the one day that they had actually helped the other, a near miracle had occurred. The Nidaime Hokage's technique allowed someone to be brought back from the grave, and Orochimaru brought back everyone he could. The look on that old hag's face had been priceless when Tsunade got back up. He would remember that. In terms of his revenge, that was about as close as he had come.

Then Fugaku Uchiha got involved, and used a technique called Izanagi. Gave up both of his eyes just to make sure that everything got done right. Orochimaru had in fact been dead, so many poisons running through him that his body was gone from the realm of the living. But Fugaku used his technique to keep him alive. It had a very strange effect upon the Edo Tensei. Orochimaru actually used the technique when he himself was dead, and left himself as a victim of his own technique. The irony was lost on him in that moment as Fugaku was torn apart, and most of his memories of undeath at that point were filled with the blood and screaming of their enemies.

As long as they still had chakra keeping their bodies animated, those summoned by Edo Tensei could stay around. Most people had short chakra reserves, and so the population of ghosts had dwindled in recent years. Quite rapidly, in fact. But still, even the Sannin have their limits. He was reaching his own, not even having enough to do simple jutsu anymore. But thankfully he still had Kusanagi. Limping back to the remains of the Konoha Academy, he passed through the broken doors into the somewhat clean halls. The sound of his left foot grinding into the tile he had long since gotten used to, as being dead removed the need for pain receptors.

Coming to the cafeteria, which also happened to be the strongest part of the building, he saw a few beds lined up against the walls. When the ghosts started losing cohesion they were placed in beds, where perhaps they might last a little longer. Filling two of the beds were the only other ghosts left.

"Jeeze, can't you find a better hobby than killing those people? I mean, we don't have too much left." Jiraiya said, his sagely features ruined by the large chunks of his head missing. For some reason this always disturbed the snake Sannin, but then again his grinding of his left foot bone against the tile always upset the last of the Sannin. They all knew each other's buttons.

"Nah, just a couple of missing ninja from Kumo. Sadly they knew nothing of importance." Orochimaru dragged his foot extra loudly near Tsunade's bed. She just gave him a glare as he settled into his own.

"Both of you better hope your tongues don't fall apart like Sakumo's. I don't have the chakra to heal anything anymore." She said, moving as little as possible. She was the closest, and barely moved from her bed any more. Her body was starting to truly fall apart. It was a sad sight to see, and he was thankful that Jiraiya had lost his tear ducts. That man balled about every lost piece of Tsunade. Then again, their jutsu had been fueled for fifteen years. It was lucky that they still could act independently at this point. In reality, though, they didn't expect to last the summer. If that.

Of course, the only reason they were here still was because they had some to live, or rather to remain not quite dead for. "We will last. Where are they? I didn't see them on my way in."

"The brat? He is out there somewhere. Probably destroying something or trying to find out how to make explosive notes." Jiraiya said, smiling. Orochimaru didn't have to look to know that he was. He loved that kid. Heck, they all had some form of adoration for him. Orochimaru just wouldn't state his own feelings on the matter if he could avoid it.

"The rest of us are here." Two voice echoed from the other side of the cafeteria, where pictures of the village and its people had been plastered across the wall. Every image that the village contained had been placed there, to help those still here to remember. Orochimaru had no real need of pictures to remind him. Just looking at the faces on the hokage monument was enough. Sure, the third hokage's nose had been damaged by the fighting, but in his opinion it made the statue look better. Not that he would ever tell sensei that. Perhaps he would never get the chance.

By the wall were two teenagers, one with pink hair and one with black hair. "Go get the brat. Tomorrow is the anniversary. We have a lot to tell you." Both nodded, and stood up.

"You want to send them off tomorrow, don't you." Tsunade stated, in his general direction.

"Kukuku," he laughed, knowing he probably shouldn't stress his face. "Of course I do. My chakra has less than a month left in it. If not now, then when? They are all ready and capable."

"I disagree. We need more time to teach them what they are up against." Jiraiya said. Then again, he always was the optimistic one, hoping that they would have enough time to prepare them for every eventuality.

"We don't have the time." Tsunade said finally. "I won't last more than a week at the rate we go teaching them. I say we send them now, tell them everything."

"I never though you would ever agree with me, Tsunade." He said. "Do you trust their desire for revenge?"

"This isn't about revenge, it's about justice! If they just go out there to kill everyone that's ever looked wrong at Konoha, this whole cycle will happen again. Nothing will come of it." Jiraiya said. The old argument was starting up.

"So you want them to carry your misguided sense of peace out there, when they have grown up staring at the evidence of our failure? Your student tried to use that sense of peace, and look what happened! Konoha is dead, and it may have been spared had you not taught him to be strong enough to do what was necessary!" Orochimaru retorted.

"If they just go out there, and get revenge, can you trust them to stop? Can you trust them to come back and just let go of the old hatred? There must be justice, Orochimaru, or else they will only have the same thing happen in turn to them. Revenge creates a cycle, and if they just go out there and slaughter everyone like you want them to, then fifteen years down the road someone else will do the same to them!" Jiraiya had a lot of feeling in his voice today. Maybe he had some merit in what he was saying, but out of habit he had to stop his peace foolishness.

"They will have the will of fire, Jiraiya. They have it. But they need to temper that in the fires of revenge first. They will be constantly looking over their shoulders and worrying if they missed someone if they do it your way."

Tsunade snorted. "Both of you are just being foolish. Neither of your ideas will work in theory and in the field. They must compromise the ideals if they have any hope of success." She nodded as they both stopped arguing. They didn't want her to fall apart any further, and arguing with her had a pretty good chance of her getting crazy about that.

Before they could try to come at the old argument with any new ideas the doors opened and their reasons for undeath walked in. In the lead was a golden haired blond boy, with blue eyes and whisker marks. Next to him was a black haired boy with somewhat long hair and dark eyes. Last in their group was a girl with pink hair and slitted eyes. All of them wore the clothes of a Konoha shinobi. Long dark colored pants, usually green or blue. Long green shirts and chuunin vests on top of that. Each vest had a konoha symbol on the back and all of the standard pockets. All of the clothes looked a little worn, but what could you do when you lived in a ruined village?

"Hey you old freaks. What do you guys want now?" The blond yelled. Of course he was grinning. It would have nothing to do with him being Jiraiya's pupil. He swore that man trained his apprentices to all be cheeky and loud.

"Tomorrow you will be done with your training. We have no choice but to give you our last mission and hope that you succeed." Tsunade said, knowing that Orochimaru or Jiraiya announcing it would only get the other to start arguing.

"But Sensei, I don't know everything yet! I still have so much to learn!" The pink haired girl complained.

"True. But let's face it, I can't even move anymore, Jiraiya can maybe get to the outer wall and back before one of you needs to carry him, and Orochimaru can't even mold a jutsu anymore. Our time is up, and so we are left with few choices." She sighed, making Jiraiya cringe.

"Sakura Senju, this is for the best." Orochimaru said. It was best to keep Tsunade able to speak, as they needed to save whatever they had left. This would be a long conversation in the first place. "So tonight we are going to tell you everything we know. We have taught you everything you needed to know so far in terms of your training. But now we must explain to you why we have trained you. More importantly protected you from the truth."

That got looks of interest from all three teenagers. They immediately grabbed some of the few chairs that still were in one piece, and sat down near the beds. Each sat by their protégé. Sakura sat in front of Tsunade, while the blond sat by Jiraiya. His own student quietly sat at the foot of his bed. "Fifteen years ago, on October 10th, Konoha was attacked. From what we know, we were betrayed by our allies in Suna. They lead an army of Iwa ninja and missing ninja right to our gates, and from there it disintegrated into chaos. We are not sure when but Kumo and Kiri both got involved as well, as to when and how we aren't sure." Orochimaru began. He had the most complete information on military movements at that time.

Jiraiya on the other hand had the most complete information on the political movements. He had been brilliant at this in life, and in death thankfully the memory doesn't fall apart. Or dull with time, though his face certainly had. "Konoha had invited Suna to join them for a celebration on the end of the Third Ninja War. My pupil the Yondaime Hokage felt that it was a great idea to invite them to a peaceful celebration. He believed that it would be the first step in bringing a greater peace to the land." He said clearly, focusing on simply why this all happened. "We aren't sure who threw the first kunai, but fighting began the night before the festival. This was compounded when someone released a bijuu in the middle of the village. More than one of the villages brought one, especially Iwa. We are positive that they used both of theirs. You all were born sometime during that day, in the Uchiha compound, since the hospital had already been destroyed."

Tsunade spoke a little bit, feeling like it was her turn. "Damages and destruction happened everywhere. Your parents took the time to hide you in the Uchiha clan's secret meeting place. It was underground and generally safe from attack. Each of your families were wiped out. None of your parents were capable of Edo Tensei. Sakura, you family were civilians, cabinet makers if my memory serves, and didn't have the chakra reserves to come back. Sasuke, your parents were alive after the Edo Tensei had been activated, Mikoto guarding you and Fugaku giving up his Sharingan to keep the Edo Tensei going. Naruto, you parents were another issue entirely." Tsunade scrunched her face up, trying to keep her cheeks working.

Jiraiya took over again. "Your parents were the yondaime hokage and his wife Kushina, which by the way was a secret marriage to being with. I am not sure what happened, but while you were born your mother and father had to fight a bijuu. The Kyuubi, we think. We are not sure how, but it got loose from its seal and started rampaging right when the fighting started. This is what we think caused the other bijuu to go on the loose as well. We are not sure what the Yondaime did, but he sealed the Kyuubi into you, or at least some of it. We say we aren't sure because Sasuke also is connected to that somehow. Whatever jutsu he used for that seal also sealed his soul in some way, since the Edo Tensei didn't work when we tried to bring him back. Same thing with your mother, when we tried. So all we have to tell you on that note is that your parents tried. But whatever they must have done probably was too serious for them to come back."

"Suffice to say, they are probably going to be much more than simply dead." Orochimaru finished. Naruto flinched at that. Oh well, the boy was too soft as it was. "From the rise of the bijuu Konoha was dead. By the second morning there wasn't much left of the senior command, ANBU, or Jonin. The bijuu were fought over by each of the nations, especially since many of them changed hands. We aren't sure, but we think that the our sensei the Third Hokage also gave his life in a seal to contain a bijuu. That demon is contained within you, Sakura. For your safety you all were taken and placed beneath the Academy. That was why the three of you weren't at the Uchiha compound when the Iwa ninja broke through their defenses and destroyed the place." He sighed from his position on the bed. Hopefully he would still have lips to sigh with tomorrow. This was the most conversation they had experienced in a month.

"Everyone in the village died after Kiri got involved. They poisoned most of our supplies with a new poison they had developed for a situation like this one. We didn't catch it in time. It was a slow acting poison, one that easily spread through bodily fluids. It spread among the survivors and wiped most of them out. It was at this point that we arrived." Orochimaru sat up a bit in the bed, feeling like attaching at least a little emotion to this. Poor kids wouldn't know how much revenge meant to him unless he at least showed a little bit of emotion. "We killed everyone that we could, but there were so few of us left. The fighting lasted for months, as each of the major nations skirmished around and inside the ruins. Looters followed that, and before you were toddlers this place became known as the haunted village. Our essence won't allow us to leave the walls and survive. I doubt it would have allowed us the ability to travel to Suna or Kiri either, even during the beginning. As much as we wanted to," He said with a sneer, "We were unable to exact our revenge."

"So we trained you." Jiraiya said. "Tomorrow you will leave, and go and find the old daimyo of the land of Fire. Since the hokage is dead, you will have to recieve your forehead protectors through him. As much as we would like to, only someone who is technically alive can grant you ninja status." Jiraiya groaned. "I sure hope that he is still alive. It would be really inconvenient if he wasn't."

"Either way, you must leave and find him. We hope that you will be alright out there, but as much as we have tried to teach you, the fact is that the world is probably very different than we remember it." Orochimaru said. He didn't like to admit that he had a fault, or a lack of knowledge, but the facts were there.

"But what about you? What happens to you when we leave?" Sakura asked, but the question was very much on the lips of both boys as well. Sasuke seemed to be trying not to show emotion, but to Orochimaru the hurt was plain on his face. The boy was not happy to be losing his sensei.

"We die." Tsunade answered. "We move on, trusting you with our hopes and dreams. Our lives and goals were ended prematurely. Make sure yours aren't."

Sakura looked like she was going to cry at this news. Naruto was actually going to cry. Sasuke, true to form, was not, but if you looked at his eyes they showed fear. This was near about the most shocking thing that had ever happened to them. The Sannin had been a constant in their lives, and to lose them would probably give them the truama they needed to move forward.

"We aren't dying today, you brats!" Jiraiya roared. "Go and sleep on all this, and tomorrow we will talk again. Oh, and remember," All three leaned forward to hear what they thought was a whisper. "We stayed this way for you. Don't you dare throw that away."

Orochimaru grinned. He was logical, Tsunade was realistic, and Jiraiya was the emotional charismatic one. A perfect team, one they hope that they replicated with this younger trio. He watched as they retreated back to their rooms, "It appears that they are beginning to understand this." He mused.

"So long as they are still alive at the end of all this, I consider my goals fulfilled." Jiraiya said. "This all means nothing if they arent able to survive and rebuild Konoha."

"I don't want them to rebuild." Tsunade said. Both men actually turned. Her mouth must be being reinforced by her dwindling chakra. "I want them to make something new. Something for the future, not a reminder of the past."

"Wouldn't that be justice." Orochimaru stated, noticing that Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

Fog filled the area around Konoha the next morning. Only six people experienced the beauty of it, half dead and half alive. They were on the Academy grounds, about as far as Tsunade was able to make it without help. Barely visible through the fog were the figures of the hokage monument.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Senju, and Namikaze Naruto, are you prepared and willing to make this oath?"

"Yes, Sensei." The three ninja answered.

"Do you solemnly swear to carry out the justice of Konoha, to punish those who destroyed her?" Orochimaru asked.

"Do you solemnly swear to uphold the ninja code, and restore that which was lost?" Tsunade asked, her voice a shadow of what it was last night. She had hardly any bodily cohesion left.

"Lastly, do you swear to always remember that if you fight for Konoha, that its future is your future; To never leave a man behind," Jiraiya added. "Do you solemnly swear to uphold these things?"

Their eyes were steel. Their hearts were pure. "Yes, Sensei."

"Then go. Go and fulfill your oath. We will watch you from the other side." Jiraiya said.

"If any of you die, your oath is unfulfilled. Don't ever let each other down." Orochimaru warned. None of their goals would be accomplished if they died along the way.

"Don't forget us. Now go!" Tsunade said, a whisper on the wind.

The youths ran for the inner wall, climbing it and taking one last long look back. Then with a jump they were gone, and the Sannin would probably never see them again. Already Tsunade was losing sight, her reason for staying now gone. Orochimaru stepped over to a small box that was on the Academy roof. A little project of his during his many years of spare time.

"Tsunade-hime, did you ever wonder where all of the explosive tags went?" Orochimaru said with a grin.

Her eyes focused, not quite gone yet but it was close. Orochimaru wasn't very emotional, but if they were going to die he thought it would be much better if they all died together. "So that's what you did with them. How big will the explosion be?" Jiraiya asked.

"It should wipe the slate clean. Make sure that when they start over they won't have to clear any of the grounds." Orochimaru grabbed Tsunade's hand, which had been shaking in her attempts to keep control of it. "Hime, if you would do us the honors. I think i would prefer to go out with a bang."

Jiraiya smirked. "Are you making up for the fact that you never slept with a -" He had enough time to send Jiraiya a withering glare before Tsunade snorted at their antics and depressed the seal.

The explosion that claimed the area was made up of somewhere around three thousand explosive notes. Miles away from the explosion, three youths never looked back. They knew that their path only lead forward. Now and forever.

Alright, so this is the prologue of a story that I hope you guys like the general idea. As such, I am going to treat this as a Interactive Story. You choose what happens. So, ill post another chapter of this as more people remark on it, so when I hit ten reviews this story will post another chapter based on your input. So please express yourselves, and ill see what I can do to fulfill those requests. So yeah I've basically shown what the premise is, and now it is up to you as to what and where this will go.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, where are we supposed to go to find the Daimyo?" Naruto asked,

"Sensei said that this village would have some people who would know." Sakura said, pointing outwards. They were in a shallow area maybe ten miles from Konoha. On the map this was supposed to be a good sized village. In reality they were looking at a jumble of old foundations and ruins. There had been a bridge across the river here, but it was completely gone.

"I think Ero-sennin had some screws loose when he tried to give us an accurate map." Sasuke muttered. He sighed, looking at the map. "If we go another day or two this way, we will come to Tanzaku Gai, whatever that is." There was some sort of illegible note written next to it, definitely Tsunade's handwriting. He snorted, handing it to Sakura. She just shook her head.

"If you can't read it with your eyes I am not sure I will be able to." She said. "You are the one who spent your free time reading all of her notes." Sasuke just leveled a glare at her. "We should keep moving." She finished, rather than starting a fight that would probably just end in them hungry and even more lost out here.

So, with a less than appreciative view of their map and sensei, the three ninja crossed the river and spent most of their day walking. Every so often they would come across craters and other signs of damage from fighting, trees with large scratch marks or burn marks on them, or just plain bodies. Old corpses were apparently a common thing out here. After the ninth old skeleton they had passed they started seeing signs of civlization. Or what was once civilization. Burnt crops and destroyed buildings became more prominent as they travelled down the road. More old corpses were found in these, some entire families. None of the team said anything to the others as they walked. Not that they weren't social, but they were unused to seeing this. Certainly they had grown up in the ruins of Konoha, and were used to the destroyed buildings. This was different. Whoever had done this had not bothered to clean up after the deed was done. At least in Konoha it was mostly clean by the time they were able to start walking. Here the slaughter was plain in their eyes. When they stopped that night they slept in the trees.

The next day of travel only got worse. The closer they came to Tanzaku Gai, the worse that the damage had become. It seemed as if everything that could possibly be burnt or ruined had been. Crops and farms were all destroyed, right up to the city itself. The sun had set by the time they got there, and even in the dim light they could see that the city was in a sorry state. It's walls were missing large sections and some of the taller buildings had noticable chunks missing as the sunset shined its last rays on the city. The city was also dark, no power running through it. No light came from it, or if there was any light it was snuffed out very quickly.

"So, dobe, what now?" Sasuke drawled, knowing that Naruto had been very quiet that day. He was the most emotional of the team, and what they saw today had to have touched him. Even Sasuke with his sensei's training could not ignore the emotions that ran through them.

"Those people were once part of Konoha. If it wasn't gone then we would have been protecting these people!" Naruto growled.

"But they weren't part of Konoha. Not anymore." Sakura said. "Even if we were aware we could not have protected them."

"So we just let their bodies rot? Just let them lay their unavenged just like our parents?"

"I agree with the dobe." Sasuke said, a small smile on his face. "Perhaps these people might be able to give us some other useful information." Revenge was always sweeter when your friends worked with you, sensei always said. Naruto gave him a weird look but finally nodded, and Sakura just rolled her eyes at them. Whenever Sasuke and Naruto agreed on something it became nigh impossible to stop them.

"Fine." She said. "But if I get hurt, you had better heal me Sasuke." Sasuke flinched a little bit. Sakura had a punch that could shatter walls and buildings with ease. Sometimes it really sucked being the medical ninja on the team. "and quickly, too, at that!" He only flinched a little bit at her tone this time.

"Eh, you both of course are going to lord over me with your impressive chakra reserves. Just because i have the least amount of chakra doesn't mean i can't threaten people too." Sasuke said snidely. "Let's just figure out who is in charge here." He tied a hairband into his long hair, keeping it tucked up behind his head. Sometimes the dobe would remark about it being some form of parasite on his head, but he liked the way it looked. Plus it helped keep the dirt and other parts of the battle off of his nicely groomed hair. "Then we can get to the fun part of the job."

They approached the walls, using their skills in stealth learned from Jiraiya-sensei. For some reason between the three Sannin he had been the one that was best at sneaking around. When they had asked why that was he only giggled, promising to tell them when they got older. Too bad they never were able to get him to talk about that. It might have been important for later. As the three approached, they saw their first living person ever. Outside of one another they had never met anyone who wasn't dead or long since dead. All of them stopped, taking in the hobbling person.

He was old, or at least moved like he was, and had only one foot. The other side of him was supported by a cane. The cane had a piece of leather attached to the bottom, muffling it, and the only sound they could hear was of the man's labored breathing. As they stopped, they could see the man stiffen.

"Who's there?" The old man turned around on his cane. The three teens simply melted into the night like their sensei had taught them, but they could feel the spike of chakra from the old man. So he was a ninja, or had been. "I know you're out there, and I don't want to have to hurt you!"

"Like you could hurt us!" Naruto yelled. So easily baited, Sasuke thought. He would have to salvage this.

"Perhaps we can just ask you a question and we both can be on our way." Sasuke stated, hoping the older man might consider it.

"Depends on the question," The old man stated. "Ask and I might tell you." That cane of his definitely had some sort of blade on it. Sasuke could notice more than his team mates in the dim light, and this old man was almost certainly a ninja.

"Who killed all those people on the road?" Sasuke asked carefully. "Was it ninja?"

The old man shurgged clearly in the dim light of the moon. "Of course it was ninja! It just depends on who has control of the city at the time. Kiri, Kusa, Kumo, even Ame have all fought over Tanzaku Gai at one point or another. All of them, I would say." The old man paused. "Can I go? We don't have much time before a patrol shows up."

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah." Without another word both parties seperated into the city, the old man disapearing into the alleys and the young team slipping into an old warehouse. A few rather unsavory people called it home, small stretches of cloth reaching over broken crates forming some sort of shelters. Rags consisted of what the people wore or owned. To the three young ninja this was as horrifying as it got. It smelled like when one of the Edo Tensei bodies was about to fall apart, but these people were still alive.

"We should help them." Sakura started to say, but Naruto cut her off.

"It will mean nothing if we don't fix what made them this way. We can help better by stopping what caused this." his blue eyes closed in the dark and flashed red. "Who caused this." He amended.

"Agreed." Sasuke noted. "We can hide inside a crate somewhere in here. It will conceal us well. Who wants first watch?" Sakura would have taken it, but Naruto wouldn't let her. Apparently he had to think about this one. Hopefully they would have something happen soon. Or at least some sort of clue.

Sorry for the short chapter, but i wanted to get some of the slow stuff out of the way. In the next chapter we will find out what has happened to the Land of Fire over the last fifteen years, and the story of Tanzaku Gai.

A short blurb on the Young Team 7. As mentioned, Naruto and Sakura are the heavy hitters on the team. Sasuke is the weakest on the team in terms of chakra, but has the best control. This is not canon, so flamers beware i actually am explaining myself. Just not right now. There is a reason for this. And yes, Sasuke is the medic. I hope that you find that original, since everyone always claims Sakura should take that position, but i have valid reasons for this. Jinchuuriki are never medical ninja. They just don't have the chakra control to do it. That leaves Sasuke as the most likely to know medical techniques. But there are going to be other reasons too. I just won't explain myself until we get there.


	3. Chapter 3

All three of the young shinobi woke up a few hours later. They couldn't afford to be seen or remembered here. Before the sun rose they were gone from the old warehouse, and more importantly before any of the ninja patrols could find them. From there they gathered in a dingy alleyway near the main marketplace. The smell was overpowering, effectively concealing their scent.  
>If the city had been desolate to them last night, the sight before them only made it worse. People scrounged about in the corners of what had once been a large market. Burnt out hulks and frames remained of stalls and wagons. A few stalls still existed, but they were filled with foreigners, and each had a section of bodyguards. The only thing that was an improvement here was the lack of bodies.<p>

The opposite rooftop had a trio of shinobi on it, observing the market and its inhabitants. Sasuke and Naruto both noticed the twin clouds on their forehead protectors. Kumo. The Cloud village had been one of Konoha's greatest enemies from the beginning. From what Tsunade had told them, Kumo had always been the one to push for war, always looking for the opportunity to gain an advantage in any situation. Their sensei had mentioned that Kumo may have been in league with Sand before the attack, or may have acted on their own.  
>"Kumo ninja!" Sakura whispered. Her eyes were better at distance then either of their own, so Naruto and Sasuke got quiet as she examined the other ninja. "They are pretty lightly armed. Alll of them are pretty young, but I'd bet they have another team member around here somewhere. Standard ninja operate in teams of four."<br>Naruto smirked and Sasukem scoffed. "Never assume the enemy goes by the rules, and question everything." Both echoed, Naruto practically singing his end as they quoted Orochimaru-sensei. Sakura didn't like this quote any better than when she had heard it in the past. Turning to them, she brought up her fist, prepared to dispense her unholy wrath. The boys were ready to dodge, already predicting the action long before they finished the quote. Before they were able to do anything, a voice called out to them.  
>"Are you asking to get killed?" The old man from last night was standing deeper in the alleyway, resting heavily on his cane. "Get back from there and follow me if you want to live!" He whispered. Looking back across the courtyard, the young team noticed that the Kumo ninja were gone. That wasn't a good sign. With a nod to his team mates, they started moving after the old man. They still had their weapons out, they weren't stupid. The old man might just be another ninja wanting to kill them. He hadn't attacked them last night, but the Kumo ninja certainly would attack them. It was their territory after all. Sasuke nearly twitched as he heard the roof tiles bend above him. Someone was coming.<br>The old man heard it as well, and leaned heavily on his cane as he started making handsigns. Not even voicing his technique, the ground became mud and started sucking them in. Sasuke did not like this at all. Judging by the smell, he was going to need a bath after this. Two for his hair. Sakura made some sort of feminine squealing as she got sucked underground. Naruto just laughed. Before they were completely under Sasuke saw a shadow step over the edge of the roof above. He also saw the look of surprise on the ninja's face as they slipped into the ground.  
>The sliding feeling of being pulled through the earth ended abruptly as they all fell into a cavern of some kind. It was dark, with no sources of light for anyone to see by. The old man they could hear panting, a cough escaping him as he landed on the tough ground. "Sakura," Sasuke muttered.<br>A light appeared in her hands, a form of ninja technique illuminating the cavern. It was a small tunnel, with signs of having been used for a long time. Footprints layered in the dust, and Sasuke also noted a small print of a cane here and there. It brought some comfort to him that the old man used the tunnel, but there was a chance that the Kumo ninja would follow them. The old man had stood up by now, and started hobbling in one direction, waving with his hand as he coughed. "This way, they are digging," He said, and lead them along. There were a large number of twists and turns, and finally he pulled up against a wall, hacking and coughing. Sasuke noticed that there was blood on the back of his hand. The old man couldn't go much further. "Naruto, seal up the tunnel, Sakura, cover us." Sasuke approached the older man, and held out his hand. "Let me heal you. We owe you that much."  
>The laugh that escaped from his lips was raspy. "Not even Tsunade-sama could fix this if she were still alive."<br>"So you were a Konoha ninja?" Sasuke asked.  
>"My, my, you ask such a dangerous question, lad." The old man kept his face back from the light, probably to hide whatever his intentions were. "I might have been at one point. But Konoha would never recognise me now. I am without honor."<br>Sasuke started making hand signs that he had memorized from Tsunade. Glowing green, he brought them in front of the older man. "We owe you for what you just did. So sit back and let me heal you. I learned from the best." Sharingan eyes did wonders for learning medical techniques. Bringing his hands to the old man's shoulder, he did a diagnostic. The old man surprised him. One of his lungs was covered in scars, the other was simply weak. His internal organs looked like someone had injected fire directly into them. His skin was another thing entirely, the damage to his internal organs paling in comparison. After the diagnostic jutsu completed itself, Sasuke got started. He might not have Tsunade's brilliance, but he had control at least at her level. Without using too much chakra he cleared the old man's airways of blood, letting him breathe easier.  
>"We were born there." Sasuke said, making the old man turn and look at him. His face was mostly scars and burnt tissue, but one eye still locked with his. It was pale, almost as if the pupil had been blinded. "We are looking for some help."<br>"You lie, boy. I know every survivor of Konoha, and none of them have had any children like you!" His voice was angry, the first emotion they had heard from him. "What is your name, who are your parents?"  
>"We will tell you ours if you mention who you are." Sasuke challenged, finishing his healing jutsu and removing his hands from him.<br>"You may call me H. I do not deserve to have a name until my honor is restored." The man said, motioning them to follow.  
>"My name is Namikaze Naruto." Naruto said, blatantly trusting the old man. Of course, this only caused another coughing fit. The old man leaned heavily on his cane, nearly having a heart attack as he turned around to face Naruto. "I am Senju Sakura. And mister paranoid here is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke <em>Hn<em>ed at her. He was paranoid about this, that was true. Blindly trusting strangers was a bad idea. Even if this old man was from Konoha, he didnt deserve Sasuke's trust. Not yet at least.  
>"Lies! Your families were at the center of the slaughter!" The old man was ready to attack them now, Sasuke realized. He would now have to do something, thanks to his teammates. They were just too trusting sometimes.<br>He turned on his Sharingan. The world erupted into perfect clarity, the ilight of Sakura's jutsu providing more than enough to see the older man's features. More importantly it let him see the activity of chakra behind his left eye. His only eye, for that matter. "You also have a doujutsu. Except that it is broken, or malformed." The chakra seemed to avoid the retina of his eye, for some reason. Or it seemed that there were places in his eye that the chakra slipped around, rather than filling in.  
>"That is what happens when a shuriken goes through your eyelid, Uchiha." The man said, recognizing him by the red tinted eyes. "I can only see when it is active, now. That and i am a useless branch family member, so they couldn't even do me the decency of killing me after i was captured." He stopped leading them, arriving at a dirt patch and a wooden hatch set in the ceiling. "You get out here, I don't think I will live much longer if i stay around you."<br>Sakura spoke up. "Can we ask you a question first?"  
>The old man grunted. "Depends on the question." he shifted his weight so that he could use the wall for support. "Maybe i will give you an answer."<br>"That's what you said last night!" Naruto growled. Always the impatient one.  
>"I answered you then, didn't I?" he growled back.<br>"Fine then. We are looking for the old Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. Do you know where we can find him?" Sasuke said.  
>The old man considered for a moment. "I know that he is somewhere around his ancestral estate. Probably in hiding there. It's right at the edge of the Kumo and Kiri border. Though the last time i knew that he was there was a few years back. So there is a chance he is still there. What do you want him for, if you kids don't mind sharing?"<br>Exchanging nods, the three of them decided to tell this man. "We are entering the chuunin exams to find out who was responsible for the destruction of Konoha, and then kill them." Sasuke said bluntly.  
>"Pshaw, better than you have tried! What makes you think you can do better than the dozens who have gone before you?" H said.<br>"Let's just say that we are more prepared than they are."  
>"Fine, you brats. Go and fail. Waste your lives into that foolish dream just like everyone else. Do you know what happened to the rest of them? Those who tried to get revenge? They're all dead, almost every single one of them. I only know of a couple of people who are still alive, among the survivors. If I were you, I would give up now, find something better to do with your lives." The old man said bitterly.<br>"We will prove you wrong! We will do it!" Naruto, of course, took offense to the very idea that they would fail. "Jiraiya-sensei told us that we were the only ones who could do it, and we won't let him down!"  
>The old man looked at them for a long moment. "Sensei would say something like that. But i was there when he died. How do you know him?"<br>"He came back to teach us. Orochimaru-sensei used a kinjutsu to keep them here long enough to teach us what we needed to know." Sakura provided.  
>"Maybe i'll believe you about that, not today but maybe some day. Right now, though, we need to part ways before the patrol comes back. Go south to Naraka. East of there is a smalll road leading to the town of Honshu. You'll find the daimyo there." Turning from them, the old man started walking away. "Tell him H sent you."<p> 


End file.
